Printing Functionality and Performance
Print Preview Functionality
The Print Preview program uses two spool files to process print preview pages: page spool files and index spool files. The program assigns "PAG" to the first three characters of the page spool filename and assigns "IDX" to the first three characters of the index spool filename.
The spool files are too large to keep in memory and are, therefore, saved to disk. These files are either saved in the directory named in the TMP environment variable, or in the same directory as the application.
The size of the spooled files increases as the number of spooled pages increases.
Spooling continues during the print preview process until all pages have been spooled or the print job has been completed. The spooled files are deleted after either the print channel has closed or Print Preview has terminated (whichever comes last).
Print Performance Issues
Printer Driver Incompatibilities
The Print Preview program is not compatible with the generic print driver and other print drivers that do not provide page dimensions or allow for font selection or graphics. If Print Preview displays the following message, it cannot determine the printer's width or height, indicating that the print driver being used is not compatible:
!ERROR=11 (PRINTER specified was not found)
Device Dependency
There is no guarantee that fonts will map correctly on different printers. Therefore, it is not possible to redirect the output to a different print queue. The Print Setup dialog does not allow the destination printer or the printer properties to be changed.
The print preview program cannot interpret the string between the 'BO' and 'EO' mnemonics and will generate an !ERROR=29 on the SYSPRINT device if sent to a print preview window.